The day was exhausting and frustrating as BillBlueEyes described, but we got through it. MiL now has a wound vac, which is really pretty cool. It vacuums out the infection. The only complaint is that she has to carry around a heavy machine in a shoulder sac. She's attached to it 24 hours a day.

Workday from heck today - but I survived and didn't eat about it. Will reward myself for that with a hot bubble bath (it's chilly here tonight). I always try to go as long as possible before turning on the heat, but then tend to leave it on longer in the spring than I probably need it. It's not super cold in here yet, though.

Dinner was small - TV hasn't been popped on tonight, and I'm enjoying the relative quiet with just planes taking off and landing at our tiny airport next door and the laundry moving along.

Bill - You cracked me up with YMCA being played at Zumba - that's classic. (And, ahem, a favorite happy song of mine...)

Lexxiss - Credits for a plan to stay on track while things are whirling around you. Are you starting to get snow near you? When flying over the Rockies on the weekend, the higher peaks had the snow already. Pretty, since I wasn't driving near it.

Ceejay - Sounds like you're ON with the healthy meals - great job! And I'm with you - why does our brain fight us when the best choices make us feel better?

GardenerJoy - Sounds like you should get EXTRA credit for the subs to your plan that worked out better than the original. Kudos! My subs tend to be the other route

Maryann - Very interesting on the sugar craving - it seems rare when someone is craving sugar that they actually want SUGAR crystals. They're usually after the sugar/fat combo, it seem - in desserts, etc. Good luck beating that back.

ForMyGirls - Hope you get some time to yourself here soon and make it through the heavy workload timeframe!

Goal for tomorrow is to make out my weekend marketing list with healthy options. Your note, Bill, about removing temptation is key. I find that I'm freer with DH's temptations because they're nothing for me - ice cream can sit in the freezer forever and grow crystals and I am not tempted, but for HIM, it's a major deal (in fact, I came home to two containers of it in the freezer - "it was buy one, get one free hon - what a deal." I just smiled, he knows. We all know. Back to trying to add in as much healthy as we can and let that edge out the less healthy.

__________________
Started the Fast Metabolism Diet mid-Aug ... Ladybug for good luck!

bethFromDayton- I can only imagine how nice it is to look at photos and see a big difference. How motivating is that?

BillBlueEyes-good job resisting eating an entire cannoli. Zumba sounds fun-hoping it does not get cancelled.

ForMyGirls-understand what you mean about keeping posts shorter so that you can fit it in. I am giving myself the OK to not stress when I don't have time to do personals.

gardenerjoy-congratulations on 77 days of daily exercise. That is a huge streak.

Lexxiss-sorry things are hard right now- you have a lot on your plate. I agree with you about addiction. I think the evil trio of sugar/fat/salt has a pretty strong hold on me.

nationalparker-glad to hear you had a nice trip. Thanks for the tip from Geneen Roth book about looking at beauty and filling up that way. Sounds like a good thing to try.

Newlifestyle-enjoy your vacation.

onebyone- am voting daily and hoping you have good news. Sending you good vibes in facing medical tests.

maryann- thanks for the encouragement about exercise.

For me, another great day where I did what I set out to accomplish. Ate on plan and healthy, did 20 minutes on exercise bike this morning, did strength exercises for shoulders/arms, read cards, logged everything at Sparks, and walked 15 minutes tonight.

Difficult to be OP today. Didn't want to wake DS with the Vitamixer so early so I tried to improvise breakfast. Difficult when I am so restricted by the taboo foods. Credit for just staying clean and counting calories. Letting go I didn't eat a balanced diet.

Glad to be through with gluten. I go back to basic and then next week add back soy for four days. Let me tell you my first meal will be sushi.

Work constant busy and I have to work the third Friday in a row when it is supposed to be my day off. Grateful that it is not forever. Maybe I'll shop after for a new pair of black boots.

Allegedly, DS and I can see the space station at 7:50 tonite.

Credit everyone for smaller portions, great OP days, healthy plans for the weekend.

Lexxiss: Right now sounds like such a bummer for you. You work so hard. What do they say, "No rest for the weary?" Credit for knowing you have to the ability to "power through" until it gets better.

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Multiple walks, CREDIT moi. The evening walk was unexpectedly chilly - just enough to encourage me to move faster. I was offered a ride home at 10:30 pm by friends who found it hard to believe that I wanted to walk instead.

Snacking was under control when I was busy, CREDIT moi, but a problem when I was tense trying to get something written for my evening event. I seem to be able to make myself write under intense deadline pressure - the very kind of pressure that makes me want to snack. One of my strategies when I was losing weight was to meet my deadlines in advance. That had two benefits: no pressure, and no snacking. Have to get back to that.

onebyone – Waving. Voted today.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – I had to wiki wound vac That is pretty cool - new notion to me. Spinach pizza sounds like a moderate choice.

CeeJay - Sounds like a stellar day - Beck part included.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Ouch for the tough day in the middle of so much going on in your life right now. Good luck cleaning out the rental unit - sounds like lots of stuff with its 30 year history. [You're right; YMCA is background music for the non-Zumba part of the class.]

maryann - Super Kudos for knowing when to fight and when to make choices. I believe those who suggest that our bodies are pretty good at handling unbalanced eating over short periods.

nationalparker – BOGO should be outlawed since it's justification for buying too much of stuff not needed. Kudos for finding serenity after "a workday from heck."

Readers -

Quote:

day 7Arrange Your Environment

Changes at Home Follow these suggestions for reducing food triggers in your kitchen: . . .

Consider Others. If you share your kitchen with others, you need to enlist their cooperation to keep tempting foods out of your sight. Although everyone in your household would probably benefit from junking the junk food, it might not be realistic for you to insist they do so.

Hi everyone--I've been MIA--and eating and eating and eating. Last night, I realized I was not only NOT hungry, I was uncomfortably full--and I ate another granola bar anyway.

I'm up 4 lbs in less than a week--I did step on the scale this morning, so credit for that since at least it means I'm not putting my head in the sand.

I've been doing fine with breakfast and lunch (and even my midafternoon snack), and then I just fall apart at or after dinner.

I haven't been logging, either. MFP is asking me if I want to log something and I've been ignoring it.

I've not been reading my book--I've been doing some pleasure reading, some reading and planning for our trip next spring, and some reading for my new job. (I think my new job is going to be a great fit for me and I'm excited about it, even if I am only 2 days in)

There were donuts and cupcakes at work yesterday--credit for not having any. Someone asked me about cake (birthday coming up) and I said I don't eat sweets at work--so at least I know that's still in my mind and as a rule I'm not going to break.

Today, I will be in the house alone most of the day. That's unusual and, in the past, has been a trigger for overeating. But I have excellent plans today for working at my desk which, as I told Beth below, is a no-food zone. Here's my pledge to this group -- if I feel like eating something that isn't on my plan, I'll take a walk.

Sorry that you're struggling bethfromDayton. Credit for coming here and posting -- that's an important first step for me. So is weighing, even when I know the number will be higher than I want it to be. So, yay for you! You've already done the first two steps! For me, the next three steps are reading my advantages list, planning my food for the day, and doing something that resembles exercise. Can you manage one or more of those today?
Another tactic might be to look at what's caused the change in your behavior and ask yourself if that's really how you want to respond. You've been through a lot of job changes and even if the new one is the right one, that doesn't mean this hasn't all been stressful. Your pleasure reading and trip planning are great responses to stress, the eating not-so-much. If you're eating at the same time that you do those other two things, can you find a way to break the connection? I read for pleasure in the bath tub and plan trips at my desk upstairs which is a no-food zone. Would that help?

I'm very new to Beck, had never heard of it, after searching it out at our local library, to no avail, I ordered it used on Amazon... I have no idea what to expect from the book, but reading the excerpts that Bill posts daily, I am interested...

Seeing 27toGo post as a newbie encouraged me to post also...

__________________I l e n e
Falling down is not failure....Failure is staying down.

Okay, Beth, first off, you're doing GREAT. You're not struggling and what you're experiencing is fairly normal - just a bit of a push back and then you'll be right back into the mindset that you've held for months now. You've created a new 50-pound lighter body in the months you've been on here! So take a few minutes and really pat yourself on the back and marvel at what you've accomplished. This blip will soon drop back off and you'll be well on your way. You've been smart and worked in healthy food and food you've liked all along, so it's not like you're tasting forbidden fruit and can't get back on track - so ...GO Beth GO!

Work has been exceptionally busy and stressful this week. I brought home about four hours to do tonight, and will hopefully get started on that soon, then take a dinner cooking break, and get back to it. Will pay close attention that I'm not turning to more snacks tonight because I feel I'm not even breathing deeply - takes too long. ha ha. CRAZY.

Welcome, 27ToGo and Ilene! I look forward to hearing more about you/your lives and what challenges you find most frustrating.

__________________
Started the Fast Metabolism Diet mid-Aug ... Ladybug for good luck!

Beth: Peace with food has been a lonnnng race for me - not a sprint. There have been lots of stages I never imagined I would have to go through. Times when I thought I was doing it "wrong." Getting under two hundred pounds wasa relatively short period. Moving down to 173 took me years of learning to love exercise and replace "stinking thinking." Beck has taken me down these last fifteen pounds after three years of practicing honesty and determination. I wish I had a magic wand that I could wave and all of my food issues would disappear. That is just not true with me. I have battled food for forty years.

This is a long way of saying that what may seem like backsliding is maybe the next lesson you need to learn. It might be the pause before the next stage of your weight loss. It might be your inner self wishing for self acceptance no matter how you feel. It might be practicing seeing the truth (like gardenerjoy said) even when you don't want to know your weight. That has certainly been true for me.

As for me: Kind of a miss mash day with the food but put the kcals in MFP and have closed the kitchen for the nite.

Beth: Peace with food has been a lonnnng race for me - not a sprint. There have been lots of stages I never imagined I would have to go through. Times when I thought I was doing it "wrong." Getting under two hundred pounds wasa relatively short period. Moving down to 173 took me years of learning to love exercise and replace "stinking thinking." Beck has taken me down these last fifteen pounds after three years of practicing honesty and determination. I wish I had a magic wand that I could wave and all of my food issues would disappear. That is just not true with me. I have battled food for forty years.

This is a long way of saying that what may seem like backsliding is maybe the next lesson you need to learn. It might be the pause before the next stage of your weight loss. It might be your inner self wishing for self acceptance no matter how you feel. It might be practicing seeing the truth (like gardenerjoy said) even when you don't want to know your weight. That has certainly been true for me.

.

Hi Coaches!

Beth, I read your post from work and what MaryAnn said very much resembled what I was thinking....much of my weight loss happened in large spurts but other parts have been much slower as I have worked on learning to accept myself. I do, however, always suggest to others that my checking in at 3FC every day has really (I believe) kept me from backsliding and regaining all my weight.

Welcome, too, to newcomers, 27ToGo and Ilene!

Me: Been doing fantastic with food, despite continued crazies. The project is moving along quite well and today I tackled the packrat nest. It filled a 30 gal. garbage can. lol Tomorrow I start back to my real job for 4 days...530am will arrive very fast....wanted to check in.

gardenerjoy, you're right--I posted. And I weighed today. I read my advantages cards this morning. I planned breakfast and lunch and snack before going to work. I mostly logged today--and made consistent good choices, even when DD and I went out to dinner tonight. (I had breakfast. The waitress told me my meal came with two hotcakes. I said I'd only like one of them.)

I didn't manage exercise--but I did have a 3 hour round trip to pick DD up from school--not a lot of extra evening time after that. (Excuse--I could have walked. I didn't.)

For tomorrow, breakfast is planned, lunch and snack are planned. No choices there. I have to decide where we're going for dinner--it's my birthday. I know what we're having for dessert--I've been planning it for months--we're going to Longhorn and ordering their Chocolate stampede--which DD, DH, and I will SPLIT because it's HUGE. For dinner, though, something light and on plan. I'll figure it out before work and stick to it.

I think making my desk a no-food zone is a really good idea. Desk--you are now a no food zone. No food. No choice. I don't tend to eat mindfully when I eat at my desk anyway, so that's good on a lot of fronts.

maryann, you are amazing--your words really spoke to me.

I'm not replying to everyone specifically--but I am so glad you're all out there.